Monthly Archives: March 2017

The TSA found a record number of firearms at airport screening checkpoints in a single day last Thursday, discovering 21 firearms in carry-on bags nationwide. That broke the previous record of 18 set in 2014. The news comes as the TSA expects to screen the highest number of travelers in a decade during the spring break travel period.

Around 62 million people are expected to go through airport security this month alone. To help speed things up, the TSA is considering new scanners for carry-on bags that produce 3-D images, similar to CT scans.

The machines the TSA is using at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to scan carry-ons at checkpoints are nearly a decade old, and the practice of X-raying a bag goes back far longer. The future may be taking technology that revolutionized medicine and using it to give screeners a better view of whats in your bag, which could mean less time in line when you fly, reports CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave.

Can you spot the knife hidden in this bag? This is the view a screener would have on machines like the ones in use today.

View from a TSA scanner used today

But suddenly that knife is impossible to miss with new 3-D CT technology, providing side-by-side images on a touch screen that can zoom and spin a bag for a true 360-degree view.

Analogic is one of about five companies developing CT scanners for airport checkpoints.

CBS News

Mark Laustra is a vice president at Analogic, one of about five companies developing CT scanners for airport checkpoints. A CT machine to people means radiation, and I dont want to get radiated on my way to my flight, Van Cleave said.

So these produce the same amount of radiation as the system thats at the checkpoint now, theres no difference. And we use all kinds of radiation shielding inside the machine to make sure theres no leakage, Laustra said. The machines can detect explosives in laptops, liquids and gels, which means the days of having to take things out of your carry-on bag could be numbered. As the bag goes through the system, its taking millions of data sets and using powerful algorithms that gives us the information we need to determine whether or not its explosive material or its innocent, Laustra said.

The clearer picture of whats inside should reduce the need for secondary bag checks, and when paired with new automated lanes already being tested at airports, Analogic believes the CT scanners should increase productivity at checkpoints by as much as 50 percent. This is going to be a much faster process for passengers. Its going to make travel fun again, Laustra said.

Passenger patience wore thin last year as security wait times stretched for hours. Safety has also been a concern.

A 2015 internal review revealed TSA officers failed to detect 95 percent of fake explosives and weapons smuggled through checkpoints by undercover investigators.

Steve Karoly, acting chief technology officer at TSA, thinks the CT technology will be tremendously better, but while it has promise, more testing is needed before it can be rolled out.

It may look good, just well say specific portions of it, but these technologies have to meet not just the technical requirements, but safety requirements, operational requirements, ergonomics, those kinds of things. And so we have to go assess that to go forward in the future, Karoly said.

The TSA already uses much larger CT scanners to see into checked bags, but the new ones have to be smaller and quieter in order to work at a checkpoint like this. The TSA and American Airlines expect to test the new scanners in major airports over the summer.

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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TSA considers using scanners with CT technology for checkpoints - CBS News

Lets be honest our generation is highly dependent on technology.

Advancements, particularly in handheld devices, such as smartphones, iPads and smart-watches, have made our lives more efficient by making everything we need accessible at the tap of a screen or a swipe to the left. Our lifestyles have dramatically changed over the past decade because now, instead of face-to-face conversation, we have messaging apps with emojis to express ourselves. Instead of flipping through page after page of text, we read and scroll through material on a screen. Instead of using mental math to calculate tip, we open the calculator app on our phones.

Essentially, technology has taken the hard work of talking to someone in person, of physically reading a book and of using our minds to do some mental math and replaced it with a device. The small satisfaction of doing these simple tasks without the use of technology has been cast aside with instant gratification from attaining what we want when we want it.

Has technology become so advanced that we, as a generation of Millennials, cannot physically or mentally live without it? Think about it: if all the technology today were to run out of battery or disintegrate for some odd reason, would we still be able to successfully accomplish the same tasks at the same speed as with technology?

I, for one, would struggle. I depend on my laptop to complete assignments because most, if not all of my professors post homework and reading online. I depend on my phone to communicate with my friends and family. Especially at Tech, when everyone is busy with his or her own schedules, communication is best by email or text. Living without the use of my phone or laptop would make studying at Tech and communicating with anyone extremely difficult.

However, I have noticed that technology, ironically, disconnects us from living in the present moment. Even though we try our hardest to communicate what we mean over text, there is still a possibility for miscommunication or misinterpretation of what was written. If, instead, a conversation was held in person, facial expressions, changes in tone, and hand gestures are some ways that miscommunication can be avoided.

With constant focus on a screen in reading and using phone applications, we limit ourselves to a brightly lit screen and forget to appreciate the physicality of turning each page or handwriting calculations on a sheet of paper. These daily little things are what truly matter.

It is great that technology catalyzes our lifestyle by making simple tasks fast and easy to complete. However, at the same time, we should be aware that it also can isolate us, from one another. So take time to disconnect and appreciate the present. Technology will always be here, but will each precious moment of your life always be here?

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Has technology devalued the human experience? - Technique

Forbes

What Technology Was Used To Make La La Land So Visually Rich and Colorful? Forbes Why does the color palette of La La Land look so rich and what technology was used to shoot the film? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by ...

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What Technology Was Used To Make La La Land So Visually Rich and Colorful? - Forbes

It's nice to have the right estimate. It's nicer to have it for the right reasons. Most military campaigns these days undergo an "after action analysis." On Thursday March 2, Micron Technology's (NASDAQ:MU) CFO went into battle at a Morgan Stanley conference. We need an after action analysis after yesterday's pre-release, as this article's title implies. What are the lessons learned? Where were we right? Where were we wrong? What new information can we employ next time around? Not only did the sell side analysts do an abysmally poor job with their consensus estimates of 66 cents, vs. the 86 cents now guided. But they haven't told us where their analysis went off the rails or given us confidence they're going to do a better job next time around.

For my part, I'm delighted to average my 77-cent base case estimate and my 95-cent high side estimate and announce that I was spot on. But it would be better to have the right estimate for the right reasons. Here's a little synopsis:

As with most of the analysts cited below, my revenue forecast was off significantly. In my case it is almost certainly bits for both NAND and DRAM, but it is also almost certainly price. This will be a key detail to look at after the formal earnings call on March 23. If the ASP increase was significantly below the 15%/1% I used for DRAM/NAND, I will be looking to see if this will then bleed over to the next quarter, with a lagged positive ASP effect from this February quarter. What has the company done to so significantly increase their gross margins? Rather than some of the inane and unanswerable questions analysts ask on the earnings call, this is the sort of thing the analysts should be drilling in on. If Micron has been able to carve out a sustainable margin improvement, god forbid, this might entitle the company to a healthier price earnings ratio than our maximum 10x.

What about inventory? Readers of my estimate articles know that I'm interested in the effect inventory is having on reported EPS. Much of the $2.75 billion in inventory that was on the books as of the end of the first quarter was put there at a much lower price. When it is sold, that difference in price will flow to the earnings per share. Plus, Ernie warned us he is planning to do inventory liquidations in this analyst day slide:

And here's what the analysts that bother to show inventory showed in their post pre-release notes:

Billions:

Cowen and Credit Suisse: You get an A+ for listening during analyst day. Goldman, Needham and Citi: please write us a report telling us why you don't believe Ernie when he tells us he's going to do inventory liquidations - you may have very good reasons and we'd like to hear them. And Citi, as the high entry you should get prepared for detention. Goldman and Citi: please follow course instructions and deliver your models on a quarterly and not just an annual basis. Thank you.

And what about revised estimates? I grade Investor Relations very hard. If I were Ivan Donaldson, VP IR for Micron, I would be giving myself failing grades looking at the estimate dispersions below, coming on the heels of a pre-release guide and a recent analyst day:

Earnings per share estimates:

Wells Fargo and Citi: Do you really think Ernie is not going to deliver at least the 86 cents from the pre-release guide? Are you aware that the last two quarters, the actual was even better than the pre-release?

And how about revised revenue estimates? Here again, there's a big dispersion:

Charts! What about some charts? Readers know I like charts and even that I try to keep them updated roughly weekly on Instablog. And indeed there are some doozies in this bunch of analyst upgrades.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so here's one from Credit Suisse I found flattering:

Memo to John Pitzer & Co at Credit Suisse. Try normalizing the data as my two charts below do. I think it helps. Also, as my Instablog update link above says, its no longer just about DDR3 as more and more bits are moving to DDR4. Ernie made this very clear in his remarks during the pre-release. In fact, most of the flat to down move since February 10 has been in DDR3. Here are my two charts attacking basically the same data:

And finally, here are two I found a bit bizarre on the same topic. First from Goldman Sachs:

And second, in the same vein, from Cowen:

I guess conceptually I'm scratching my head. I'm delighted with the implication that with a new-found robust gross margin the stock is about to fly. But it doesn't make much predictive sense. For a company that is just qualifying and rolling out a 1x node in DRAM, a 64 layer NAND, and the brand new 3DXpoint, initial margins on all of those should be expected to be poor. And yet the stock could be flying on expectations. Also in the news, management could elect to do a bonehead deal with Toshiba on a solo basis, instead of joining with Silverlake/Dell/EMC, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) as I would prefer. And in that case, even with soaring gross margins, the stock could plummet. I would submit that gross margin is a flawed predictor of stock price despite the tight tango the two lines on the charts above are dancing.

Conclusions: To the sell side analysts: excuse my snarky tone. I know full well how difficult it is to parse through the Micron information. It would be helpful if you could provide a bit of introspection on where your consensus estimates of 66 cents went afoul.

To the SA readers: Thanks for the many positive comments on my aggressive earnings predictions. I consider myself lucky and foolish for having listed both a number and a date for pre-release. And, as stated upfront, it's nice to be correct on the number, but it would be nicer still to have all the underpinnings correct - they weren't. The process of forecasting the next quarter can't begin until we have the detail customarily unveiled during an earnings call.

To Ernie: Everything is not a secret. You can tell us poor shareholders things your customers, vendors and competitors know within a gnat's eyelash of accuracy. Please tell us on earnings day how long your average contract is, what percentage of your production is presently under contract, and the percentage of production going into the spot market vis a vis a long term average of selling on spot. Please tell us how you are doing on your inventory liquidations you said were being undertaken. And if they haven't begun, why? Oh, and I'm sure you will have some pre-payments for product as in years past. Are these all non interest bearing? Are they non concealable? How many customers have done this? What's the average duration? You said on 3/2/2017 that DDR3 was increasingly unimportant. What's the percentage of DDR3 compared to DDR4? I don't think revealing any of this would put you at a competitive disadvantage. Treat your analysts and shareholders better and they will reward you with a higher peak PE than the measly 10X we've seen recently.

I'm feeling we will publish $1+ in EPS and $5 billion-plus in sales for the May quarter. But we can't begin that star gazing until we have more spot and price action, and the data from the earnings call on March 23. Good luck to all!

Disclosure: I am/we are long MU.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Micron Technology Pre-Release, After Action Report - Seeking Alpha

St. Al's neurosurgeons using new technology.

Morgan Boydston, KTVB 10:29 PM. MST March 03, 2017

SaintAlphonsusjust performed one of the first brain tumor surgeries in North America that features a new technology in the field. (Photo: Mary Kienzle/KTVB)

BOISE -- A breakthrough in modern medicine is under way at a Boise hospital.

SaintAlphonsus just performed one of the first brain tumor surgeries in North America that features a new technology in the field.

The treatment allows neurosurgeons to precisely find and remove more cancerous and diseased cells, with the ultimate goal of prolonging a patient's survival while creating a better quality of life for a patient whose cancer is incurable.

Intrinsic gliomas - or brain tumors - start within the brain itself, therefore in brain surgery, Dr. BruceAndersen says it's extremely difficult to draw the edge.

Surgeons can navigate the brain based on anatomy, experience and the appearance and abnormality of the tissue, but Andersen says "it's never really that perfect."

Now, a new technology aimed at making surgery more effective is being tested out in the United States.

"This highlights cancerous tissue that you normally can't see or detect any other way," Dr. Andersen said.

Because SaintAlphonsus performs so many cranial neurosurgeries, the hospital was chosen to carry out a clinical trial on 5-Aminolevulinic acid, or 5-ALA.

Dr. Andersen says patients drink about 1.5 ounces of that liquid amino acid four to five hours before surgery.

"... And what happens is it's absorbed by all the cells in your body, but when it's absorbed by tumor cells, and you shine a special kind of light on that tumor, it makes that tumor glow bright red."

So the tumor itself tells the surgeon where it is, helping doctors get a more precise resection of cancerous cells.

Andersen considers 5-ALA applications a breakthrough in the surgical treatment of brain tumors.

"If I can take out 99 percent of those then it makes the chances of radiation therapy and chemotherapysucceeding much much higher. And I think that's the benefit of this technique," Dr. Andersen added.

Andersen says this therapy would ultimately expand the time until tumor recurrence, and create a better quality of life for patients and their families.

"If you can double or triple it by doing something novel like this, I think that's [a] bonus," Andersen added.

Experts say its use is also helpful in biopsies of cancerous tissue - proving that 5-ALA is a versatile technique that surgeons at SaintAlphonsus will be using quite a bit throughout this clinical trial.

5-ALA treatment has been used in other parts of the globe for about five years. Here in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration must ensure that this treatment is safe and effective through clinical trial before making it a standard of treatment.

( 2017 KTVB)

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Saint Alphonsus neurosurgeons using revolutionary technology - KTVB.com

Memory specialist Micron (NASDAQ:MU) derived 61% of its total revenue last quarter from sales of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, a type of memory that's a necessary part of today's computing devices -- from smartphones to supercomputers.

Micron says that of its DRAM revenue, "mid-20s" percent of it came from what it refers to as "Specialty DRAM," which the company says "includes networking, graphics, automotive, and other embedded technologies."

Image source: Micron.

In a previous article, I went over how Micron has done a solid job of executing in the graphics portion of its specialty DRAM business. In a nutshell, the top high-performance gaming and workstation graphics processors from graphics processor leader NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) use a type of memory called GDDR5X that, today, only Micron provides.

Today, I'd like to go over why NVIDIA's recent product announcements represent a positive for Micron.

Standalone gaming graphics processors generally require a good deal of specialized, high-performance graphics memory to be included with them. That memory has, in recent years, been a technology known as GDDR5.

However, in May of 2016, NVIDIA announced a new graphics processor known as the GeForce GTX 1080 that used a new type of memory known as GDDR5X. GDDR5X is essentially a souped-up version of GDDR5 that enables greater memory bandwidth (the rate at which the graphics processor can read/write data to the memory).

There are multiple vendors of vanilla GDDR5 memory, but only Micron builds GDDR5X today. So, to the extent that NVIDIA increases its mix of GDDR5X-equipped products, Micron should benefit from both market share gains (no opportunity for multisourcing) as well as potential average selling price increases (no competition and higher delivered value should mean Micron can command more for GDDR5X than it can for GDDR5).

Image source: NVIDIA.

NVIDIA recently announced the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, which includes 11 gigabytes of GDDR5X memory and carries an MSRP of $699. NVIDIA also announced that it would push the MSRP of its GeForce GTX 1080 to $499 (down from $599).

And, finally, NVIDIA announced that it would allow its add-in-board partners to offer optional variants of the GeForce GTX 1080 equipped with the slightly faster GDDR5X chips used in the 1080 Ti compared to those used in the original 1080.

It's not hard to see how these developments could help Micron:

In a nutshell, NVIDIA is using GDDR5X across more of its gaming products, those gaming products now span a wider range of price points, and it is even using faster (and potentially higher value) GDDR5X chips in some cards today compared to what it used a year ago.

Ashraf Eassa has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Some Good News for Micron Technology, Inc.'s Graphics Memory Biz - Motley Fool